We have just finished our third tasty mini-inmersion in English: “Hey, Good Lookin’! What Ya Got Cookin’?” We organize gastronomic meetings that serve us as an excuse to get into subjects related to the kitchen: ways of cooking, spices, kitchen tools, and so on.

The generous board of Peña Aldapa accepted the proposal to provide us their facilities. Far from regreting that decision, they have opened their doors to whenever we want. Thanks a lot, specially to Natxo Irigoyen, who provided us the access to all the facilities.

People in general think that the kitchen of English-speaking countries is not as good as here. I wanted to show the students, says Lindy, how wrong they were. We have cooked dishes from Jaimaca, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Ireland, USA,… so students have been able to see that there is a whole gastronomic universe besides fish chips or hamburgers.

Some of the dishes we have enjoyed include salmon on maple syrup and mustard, brownies, squash sauté, smashed potatoes with cheddar cheese and garlic, carrot soup, luck of the Irish broccoli soup, baked bananas with rum, or almond coated halibut…

You can listen to -or download- an audio report we recorded while the cooks were preparing the dinner, febreary 21st.

You can also take a look to the pictures in miniatures, or as a slideshow.
Students have said:

“Cooking and talking in English, an innovative experience!” (Cheni, 4th Level)

“The cooking classes are exciting and I’m learning lots of new words. AMAZING!” (MariaEugenia, 3rd Level)

“Today was my first day, but I think it is going to be great. It is a good way to speak “normal” English, not only theory—JUST PRACTICE. I joined the group because I don’t want to forget my English!” (Maria, 4th level)

“Interesting way to learn how to cook dishes from other countries and a lot of new words!!!” (Shy Chick, 3rd Level)

“A funny way to break the long and boring work week and a great opportunity to meet people. Cool!” (Natxo, member of the Peña)

“A great opportunity to cook dishes from different countries and to meet nice people in an English atmosphere”. (Shy Guy, 5th Level)

“La primera vez nos parecía una idea rara, extraña. Pero, a la vez, la entendimos y, al ver las ganas de Natxo y Lindy, dijimos que sí. Ahora nos ha parecido tan buena iniciativa que creemos que se puede aprovechar la idea para hacerla también en euskera o en otros idiomas. Me da mucha envidia!” (Iñaki, miembro de la junta de la peña La Aldapa).

More info:

English speaking country’s recipes:

Global Cuisine

30 minutes or less recipes

All recipes

Yummy food

Alaskan recipes